EPIC JESUS

Frank Viola

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Introduction

This eBook is based on the keynote message that Frank Viola delivered at the 2011 Momentum Conference. What follows is the verbatim transcript of the message with slight editing to enhance readability. Since this was originally a spoken message, the casual style of the spoken form has been retained. Thus it reads more like a talk than a piece of literature. The introduction of the talk, replete with jokes and personal greetings, has been removed. But it remains on the original audio version at frankviola.org /epicjesus which is FREE.

Frank's new online course called LIVING BY THE INDWELLING LIFE OF CHRIST gives you the practical handles on how to make this message practical.

Click here or the image below to learn about the course and download it.

The Greatness of Christ

In C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian, Aslan says to Lucy, "Every year that you grow, you will find me bigger."  I think that’s a beautiful illustration of spiritual growth.

Every year that we grow in the Lord, Jesus Christ looms larger and greater in our eyes.

When you finish reading this eBook, if I have communicated what’s on my heart successfully, then Jesus Christ should become larger, greater, and more glorious in your eyes . . . and in your life as well.

One of the richest passages in all of Scripture is Colossians chapter 1. Let’s look at a section of it from a different mountain. I want to change the perspective slightly.

I am the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in me all things were created: things in heaven and things on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through me and for me.  I am before all things, and in me all things hold together.  And I am the head of the body, the church; I am the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything I might have the supremacy, the preeminence, the first place. For God the Father was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in me, and through me to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through my blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now my Father has reconciled you by my physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation . . . (Colossians 1:15-22).

Let’s continue with verse 25 as it is written:

Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I (Paul) might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

And finally Colossians 3:4.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

It was an ancient Paul who penned these words, words that are simply beyond us.

Several years ago, Leonard Sweet and I wanted to write a commentary on Colossians together. But we quickly came to a conclusion that caused us to drop the idea. And that conclusion was this: Neither of us could get beyond Colossians chapter 1. And so we wrote Jesus Manifesto. And much of it is rooted in Colossians 1.

Let me give you some background to this text.

The church in Colosse is about four years old.  And they have accepted a false teaching.

Scholars have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the Colossian heresy was.

One of the reasons why there’s so much debate about it is because Paul never defines it, and he never addresses it directly. Now all church leaders should listen.

Paul’s primary way of dealing with a church problem is to give God’s people a stunning unveiling of Jesus Christ.

For Paul, Jesus Christ is the solution to all problems. And any problem that a believer or a church has can be juiced down to one common denominator: They have lost sight of Christ.

Or to put it in Paul’s words, they stopped “holding fast to the Head” (Col. 2:19, KJV).

But whatever the error was, we can be sure of this: The Colossians thought they could graduate beyond Jesus Christ. They took Him as their Lord and Savior, but they felt that they could go beyond Jesus to higher and deeper things.

And what Paul does in this amazing letter is he pulls back the curtain and gives the Colossian Christians a staggering view of their Lord. A view that boggles the mind and enraptures the heart. A view that leaves us absolutely breathless. A view that no false doctrine can stand in the presence of.

There have been hundreds of commentaries written on Colossians. And virtually all of them are written from a left-brained perspective. They are “line upon line,” very analytical, and very linear.

In this message, I want to give you a view of this incredible passage not from the left brain, but from the right brain.

If we can see our Lord with eyes not physical . . . if the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to see this incomparable Christ, then it will wipe everything else off the table. Especially those things that compete with Him in our lives.

And we won’t have to try to love Him. The love will be ignited naturally at the sight of His peerless worth.

So taking our cue from Colossians 1, I want to tell you a story.

The story begins in eternity, “before the foundation of the world,” when the Godhead took counsel with Himself–Father, Son, and Spirit–and conceived a purpose. In Ephesians, Paul calls it “the eternal purpose.” It’s what provoked God to create.

God the Father shrouds that purpose in a mystery, and He hides it in His Son.

And what is that purpose?

We can spend the next nine months unraveling it, and we still wouldn’t have exhausted it. But here is one aspect of it: God wanted to impart His life into a creature not yet created. He wanted that creature to share His life and make it visible.

So God creates the invisible realm and He creates the visible realm.

And He creates all things by His Son.

He creates all things through His Son.

And He creates all things for His Son.

Consequently, the entire creation has the imprint of the Son of God upon it.

Thus everything in the universe reflects Christ in some way. That includes the water, the plants, the trees, the mountains, etc.

The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), and the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).

Christ is the firstborn over all creation. This means that He existed before creation, and He is the heir to all created things.

God creates a garden on the earth. And in the center of the garden He puts a tree. It’s called the Tree of Life. That tree contains God’s life. And He invites the apex of His creation, human beings, to eat from it.

But tragedy strikes. And the One who created the universe watches it fall and morph into an enemy—even His own enemy.

So God sets out to restore His good creation. And He chooses a man, and from that man He chooses a people called by His name.

And the story of Israel is the story of a God who wants to get His creation back.

But Israel fails.

And the Lord does the unthinkable:

He penetrates a fallen universe Himself.

Time becomes pregnant. And what Kierkegaard called “the absolute paradox” breaks into the visible universe. The unchanging God becomes fully human and pierces the veil of space and time.

Jesus is born in the humble village of Bethlehem, amid the stain and stench of animal waste. It’s no place for a king to be born.

He grows up in the despised town of Nazareth. And He becomes a day laborer. A craftsmen, working with wood and stone.

Now who is this craftsman from the ill-starred town of Nazareth?

He is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form.

The Father says of His Son: “I have discovered My greatest pleasure. My greatest pleasure is that all of Me—all of My power, all of My riches, all of My glory—all of my fullness—shall dwell in My Son.”

And so it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell.

Imagine being in the first century and seeing Jesus of Nazareth walk by, and you just touched Him—you touched His physical flesh. You would be touching eternity.

You would be touching the fullness of divinity.

You would also be touching perfect humanity.

You would be touching the ages of the ages, an infinite Being inside a finite body who has no beginning. The fullness of the Godhead.

But that’s not all. He is also the new Adam, bearing the image of God.

Paul tells us that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.

You will never understand Jesus by looking at the God of the Old Testament. You must first look at Jesus and then you will understand the God of the Old Testament.

Because Jesus is the human face of God.

John tells us that no one has ever seen God; but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him (John 1:18, NASB).

That means that Jesus is the exegesis, the explanation, the exposition of God.

So what does God look like?

Watch Him at a wedding in Cana. According to the custom of the day, the bridegroom was responsible for supplying the food and wine. Well, the wine ran out. This was a social disgrace—an epic oversight on the part of the bridegroom.

Behold your Lord’s first miracle.

He turns water into wine. But it’s no ordinary wine. He creates a wine that’s better than the wine that ran out. So in one brilliant stroke of compassion, Jesus Christ removes the bridegroom’s shame. He removes the disgrace. He reverses the failure. And He makes the bridegroom end up looking like a hero, because the wine He made from water was better than the original batch.

What a Christ!

He’s in the business of removing your shame.

Watch Him as He encounters a woman at a well. She is used, abused, and forgotten. She’s a Samaritan of ill repute—divorced numerous times and living in sin. And your Lord breaks all social conventions by talking to her in public.

But that’s not all.

He shares with her some of the greatest truths that a human being can know. And He breaks Jewish custom again by using her utensils and eating with her friends in Samaria (something Jews were forbidden to do).

What a Christ!

People are more important to Him than human traditions.

Watch Him as He sits before a woman caught in the act of adultery. She’s dragged like a rag doll before a bloody-thirsty mob of judgmental men. And she’s thrown at the feet of Jesus. Look at her, bleeding with her head down. She’s weeping, and all she can see through the tears are the sandals of the men who have stones in their hands, ready to send her to her death.

And there He is, the Lord of creation, sitting before them. And He asks one question that pierces every heart: “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” There’s silence. She hears the sound of rocks dropping. She opens her eyes and sees the sandals disappearing one by one, until they’re all gone. And He says to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

What a Lord!

He is mercy and compassion.

We can go on and on with other stories. But Jesus shows us what God is like. You cannot know God outside of Jesus Christ. In fact, there is no God outside of Jesus Christ. He is God enfleshed.

But that’s not all.

As the “the last Adam” and “second man” (1 Cor. 15:45-47), Jesus not only bears the image of God, but He exercises the dominion of God over the earth—especially over the creeping things.

This is where the kingdom of God comes in.

There are basically three views about the kingdom of God today.

One view says that the kingdom = heaven. We are all waiting to escape this dirty little planet to be in another place.

Another view says that the kingdom = God’s miraculous power to cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead.

Another view says the kingdom = the alleviation of poverty and social justice. It’s about making the world a better place.

All of these views are in tension with one another. And typically, if someone holds to one of these views, they don’t hold to the others.

Let me give you my definition of the kingdom.

The kingdom of God is the manifestation of God’s ruling presence.

Jesus Christ is God’s rule. And Jesus Christ is God’s presence. Wherever Christ is, there is the kingdom.

This is why the early church fathers said that Jesus Christ embodies the kingdom. They called him the autobasileia, the self-kingdom. Jesus was, in Himself, the kingdom. Consequently, you can’t separate the kingdom from the King.

But more than that, you can’t separate the kingdom from the church.

There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Jesus only mentioned the church a few times, but He mentioned the kingdom over 100 times. So the kingdom is more important than the church.”

Using that same logic, the kingdom is more important than the Trinity because Jesus never mentions the word “Trinity.”

Yet every time you see Jesus speaking about the Father and the Spirit, the Trinity is in view.

Sometimes the Father, Son, and Spirit are before us in living color. Take the baptism of Jesus for instance. The Son comes up out of the water, the Spirit descends on Him as a dove, and the Father speaks from the heavens. In like manner, John Chapters 14 through 17 have the triune God in view vividly.

In the same way, whenever you see that little band of twelve men and five to eight women who followed Jesus closely and faithfully, you are seeing the embryonic expression of the church. They were the community of the King, the new society that Jesus was creating in which He was head.

And every time you see Jesus saying things like:

“You are the light of the world.”

“You are the salt of the earth.”

“I am the vine, you are the branches.”

“Who is my brother and sister? But those who do the will of God.”

“The Gentiles lead like this, but it shall not be so among you.”

He is speaking of the church.

To separate the church from the kingdom is like separating light from visibility.

It cannot be done. They are distinct, but not separate.

Whenever Jesus is enthroned by a group of people, that’s where the kingdom of God is. Wherever a group of people submit to the kingship of Christ, the kingdom of God is in their midst. And the experience of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is theirs (Rom. 14:17).

In Jesus Christ, God’s future has broken into time. And we as Christians are called to live in the presence of the future. And that’s what the kingdom is all about.

Consequently, the kingdom is already, but not yet.

It is often argued that Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world.” He actually didn’t say that. According to the Greek, He said, “My kingdom is not from this world.” The kingdom is not from this world, but it’s certainly for it.

Remember His words, “Your kingdom come . . . on earth as it is in heaven.”

But that’s not all.

Jesus is not only the new Adam. He’s also the new Israel. And this understanding of Christ will make your Old Testament stand up and sing the Hallelujah chorus.

As a child, He leaves Egypt. And Matthew quotes Hosea the prophet saying, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” But Hosea was speaking about Israel, yet Matthew applies it to Jesus.

Jesus is tested in the wilderness for 40 days, just as Israel was tested in the wilderness for 40 years.

Jesus calls twelve disciples to follow Him. This echoes the twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus is constituting a new Israel.

Jesus meets a woman at Jacob’s well at noon, the same time that Jacob met Rachel, his wife, at a well.

The woman is half Jew and half Gentile. She represents the new people of God. Jesus is the new Jacob.

And on and on it goes. Jesus Christ relives and replays the story of Israel and brings it to its climax.

Recall when Jesus said that “all Scripture testifies of me.” He wasn’t speaking of a few Messianic prophecies that are to be used to convince Jewish people that Jesus is the Messiah. No, everything in the Old Testament points to Him. And it doesn’t make sense apart from Him.

But that’s not all.

He came not only as the fullness of the Godhead, and not only as the new Adam, and not only as the new Israel. But He came to reconcile a fallen universe back to Himself.

And how did He do it?

By a wooden stake on a hill outside of Jerusalem where blood was spilled.

Jesus of Nazareth suffered the most gruesome death a mortal could ever know. But sadly, the enormity of what He did on that cross has been lost to us.

On that cross, He took upon Himself every sin that you and I would ever commit (Col. 2:13; Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 3:5).

On that cross, He took the entire world system that is in rebellion to God (Col. 2:20; Gal. 6:14).

On that cross, He took the entire old creation which is fallen and corrupt (Col. 1:20; 2 Cor. 5:17).

On that cross, He took the condemnation of the Law (Eph 2:15-16; Gal 3:10-13; Rom. 7:1ff.).

On the cross, He took our flesh—our old Adamic nature (Rom 6:6; 8:3).

And on that cross, He took the very power of satan himself (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8).

And He crucified them all!

And not only that, but He became sin personified. He who was absolute righteousness became absolute sin (2 Cor. 5:21). He was the fulfillment of the brass serpent (John 3:14).

Yet beyond that, He faced what the Bible calls “the last enemy”–God’s greatest foe–death, the child of sin (Rom. 5:12; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Cor. 15:26).

And here was the battle of the ages.

Death, the antithesis of God. Death, the archenemy of God, darkened the wood of that cross, ready to take the Son of God into his hopeless domain.

And death won for a time. Behold the body of God’s Son lying in a tomb. Death was victorious.

But the fight wasn’t over. Three days later God the Father stepped in. He got involved.

And the greatest two powers of the universe squared off:

Death vs. Divine Life.

And on one Sunday morning, God the Father concentrated all of His infinite power . . . and He drew all the powers of the heavens bringing them straight toward a tomb.

It was the greatest display of power since the visible creation.

And the earth shook. And the heavens shook. And the body of Jesus of Nazareth came to life. And on that day, death died. For death could not hold the Son of God. And Jesus Christ rose again from the grave, victorious over death.

And He became the firstborn from the dead.

And when He shook off His chains, He was no longer bound by space or time. For He became a “life-giving Spirit” as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 15. And He breathed His own life into His disciples.

And the only begotten Son became the first born among many brethren–and they became the sons and daughters of God.

The grave turned into a garden. And we’re back to Genesis 2. Jesus is the Tree of Life returned to earth again.

(Remember when Mary saw Him in His resurrected state? She thought He was the gardener.)

And from the womb of death He brought forth an unprecedented creation—a new humanity.

And in that new humanity, there is no Jew or Gentile . . . there is no male or female . . . there is no slave or free . . . there is no black or white . . . there is no Hispanic or Asian . . . and there is no rich or poor.

All earthly barriers have been erased.

Behold: This is a new humanity . . . a new race . . . a new creation . . . a new kingdom from another realm with the life of God beating within it. And Jesus Christ is the head of this new creation, and He alone is all in all.

What is this?

It’s the ekklesia of God, the church. Bone of his bone and flesh of His flesh—kin to divinity—and you are part of her.

And because of that hill, and because of that blood, and because of that cross, you stand holy, blameless, and without accusation in the sight of a holy God.

What an incredible Lord!

But that’s not all.

Let’s fast forward to the end of time.

There’s a best-selling book called It’s Your Time. Well, there’s coming a day when it will be His time.

Time will become pregnant again. And Jesus Christ, your Lord, will split the heavens, and in regal glory He will return to this planet.

And this earth shall receive her king.

And the kingdoms of this earth shall become the kingdoms of our Christ, and He shall reign forever.

And every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus, the lone-star craftsman from Nazareth, is this world’s true Lord (Phil. 2:10-11).

And the kingdom of God which is already, but not yet, will be present in its fullness.

Recall that glorious scene at the end of Revelation. A matchless throng that no person can number from every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.

And God does something incomprehensible.

The great throng turns into a whirlwind of glorious light. And from this whirlwind of unspeakable light emerges the most glorious woman beyond the imagination of mortals.

The bride makes her entrance. The mystery of the ages. The new Eve.

And there is a mysterious union that cannot be explained. The bride of the Lamb becomes the wife of God (Rev. 21:9). And the two shall become one.

For behold I show you a mystery: The woman was taken out of the man, and brought to the man, and the two shall become one flesh. But I am not speaking of Adam and Eve. I am speaking of Christ and the church. (I just quoted Paul in Ephesians 5.)

And all things will be summed up in Christ (Eph. 1:10).

Jesus is the omega point of creation. He will fill all things with His glorious presence as the waters cover the sea (Eph. 1:23; 4:10; Hab. 2:14).

And He will hand the kingdom back to His Father, and God will become all in all (1 Cor. 15:27-28).

But that’s not all.

Now we come to the mind blower. Get ready to smoke brain cells.

According to Paul of Tarsus, all of this has already happened. It’s already taken place.

In Colossians 1, Paul gives us a view of the universe that would spin the head of Stephen Hawking and blow the circuitry of Albert Einstein.

According to Colossians 1, all things were created by Christ, all things were created through Christ, and all things were created for Christ.

But that’s not all.

All things were created in Christ. And in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:16-17, Greek).

That includes time. Time is in Him.

C.S. Lewis gave a wonderful illustration of this in his book Mere Christianity. He said imagine a straight horizontal line on a piece of paper. The straight line is time. The paper is God. Time is in God. He envelops time.

Kart Barth said that God can move in time and act there, even though He stands outside of time.

It’s not that God shot the movie in His head before He created. It’s that the movie lives inside of Him. And so He’s in the entire movie—He’s at the beginning, He’s at the middle, and He’s at the end—all at the same moment.

Our past and our future are part of God’s NOW.

Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. He’s not Alpha at one time and then Omega at a later time. He is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, A and Z all at the same moment.

This is why the prophets call Him “the Root” and “the Branch” (Isa. 11:10; Jer. 33:15).

Now that is some incredible Lord.

Hence we have those mysterious words in Hebrews 4: “He finished all things before He created all things.”

And in Revelation 13: “The Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.”

And in Romans 8, Paul writes to the Christians in Rome just seven years before many of them will meet a horrendous death under Nero. And he says, “Those whom God foreknew, He predestined, and those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He (past tense) glorified.”

He glorified them before they even died. It just hadn’t caught up to them yet.

And the words of the Lord Himself: “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

Jesus Christ wrapped it up before He began it!

What security. What assurance. What guarantee.

Our finite minds cannot grasp this because we are caught in the tyranny of time. Nonetheless it’s true.

So when you make a mistake, God isn’t slapping His forehead in heaven saying, “Oh no, I never thought she’d do that. I never thought he’d do that!”

No, the Lord isn’t playing it by ear. He’s not improvising and making it up as He goes.

No matter how chaotic things may seem, He has already worked the chaos into His plan. All creation is in Christ.

In fact, the day that haunts you the most . . . the memory of that thing you did that you regret the most . . . your Lord saw it on the day that He chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). And He still chose you. Not only that, but He was there when it happened.

Praise His name.

And now I come to what’s really on my heart. What I’ve said so far is all introduction.

I speak to you as my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I implore you to see the unseen.

That the Holy Spirit would reveal to you this incomparable Christ.

And to know that this eternal, limitless, incarnated, perfect, crucified, resurrected, ascended, enthroned, glorified, triumphant, victorious, matchless, glorious Christ . . . dwells inside of you.

And that is the mystery of the ages hidden in God from before time. That the living God would impart His own life into a creature not yet created. And dear Christian, here you are.

But that’s not all.

There are three words in Colossians 3. And those three words contain the universe:

“Christ our life.”

Sisters and brothers: This Christ not only dwells in you. But you have been given the privilege, the right, and the high-calling to live by His life.

As Paul said in Galatians 2, “It is not I, but Christ lives in me.”

And now I want to press a question.

How did Jesus of Nazareth live His peerless life?

Well, we all know the answer. He went around Galilee wearing a WWFD bracelet asking, “What would the Father do in this situation?” What would the Father do in that situation?”

Is that what He did? No, He said . . .

“What I hear my Father speak, that’s what I speak.”

“What I hear my Father judge, that’s what I judge.”

“It’s not me doing the works, it’s my Father within me.”

Jesus Christ, your Lord, lived by an indwelling Father.

Listen to his own words:

“As the living Father has sent me and I live by the Father, so He who partakes of me shall live by me.”

He said “apart from my Father I can do nothing.”

Then He turned around and said to you and me, “apart from me you can do nothing.”

The passage has moved. The Father’s relationship to Jesus Christ is now Jesus Christ’s relationship to you and me.

Jesus is our indwelling Lord.

So it’s not “what would Jesus do?” It’s “watch what Jesus does.”

It’s “what is Jesus doing . . . through you and through me?”

And herein lies my definition of an organic church. Whatever else that can be said about organic church, first and foremost, it is this:

An organic church is a group of people who are learning to live by the indwelling life of Christ together, who are sharing that life together, and who are displaying that life together. And we’re right back to the eternal purpose.

Such a discovery should bring us to our knees. This should change the way we look at Him.

Since He lives in us, we have a choice: We can live by the knowledge of good and evil. Or we can live by the life of God Himself. And we are called to live by that life with others. In fact, it doesn’t really work outside of a corporate context.

I shall now close with these words: If you ever get to the place where Jesus Christ isn’t enough . . . if you ever get to the place where you think that you can advance beyond Christ . . . then you haven’t met the Christ of Colossians. And your Christ is too small.

We’ve majored in minors.

We’ve made the Christian life about topics, concepts, methods, activities, and techniques.

But Christ is ALL. Everything else is commentary.

I ask you to consider all of this in the presence of so great a Christ.

Here is my heart.

May God raise up women and men who are humble enough to learn how to live by the indwelling life of Christ with other believers. And who are courageous enough to proclaim the unsearchable riches of that life in this hour.

For I stand with John the apostle who said, “That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we have handled. We proclaim this Life to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”

What an incredible Lord.

So how do you make this practical? Go to the next page to find out . . .

Epilogue

Several people who heard the live talk made the observation that Epic Jesus summarizes every one of Frank’s books.

Click here for a listing of all of Frank's books with discounts

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Table of Contents

Copyright

Introduction

The Greatness of Christ

Epilogue